The crazy, complicated conundrum of Houston traffic.

There is no better place to look fear and death in the eye on Houston freeways than this roller-coaster entrance onto I-45 just north of the Pierce Elevated. It is common to see a person sitting at the end of the twisting and turning ramp, dead stopped and praying to God for mercy after having chosen to take this route. It is equally as common to see a lunatic with a death wish rocket onto the freeway as if he'd been fired out of a pistol. How this ramp continues to exist is a mystery to me and a constant terror to anyone who must use it or drive near it.
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Twists and Turns

Google Earth

The Patton entrance to I-45 South can be death-defying, which is why it's No. 6 on our list.

Click to enlarge.

Houston's three worst
freeway interchanges.

At times it feels as if our freeway system is just a massive tangle of concrete with little rhyme or reason. But little compares to where these arteries meet. I often wonder if the architect of these connections was inspired by an M.C. Escher painting or the design of roller coasters (ever exited I-10 to the Beltway and felt as if you were 100 stories in the air?), or maybe he was just insane. Whatever the case, we're left with some of the most ridiculous and confusing interchanges in some of the city's most heavily trafficked areas.

3. U.S. 290, the North Loop and I-10

The only thing that saved this from being No. 1 is the fact that it's under construction and there's the hope that something will be done to repair this disaster that currently resembles a war zone. Not only does this convergence occur in one of the fastest-growing parts of town, but it extends almost a half mile as 290 and 610 meet I-10 to the south.

From every direction, this jumble is complicated to navigate, but the worst part is the stretch in between all three where a huge number of traffic lanes split off in multiple directions. Even with stenciled freeway names on the lanes, it's nearly impossible to discern exactly where to go. Worse yet, when you're trying to merge from, say, I-10 heading west onto 290 going north, you have to cross six lanes of traffic congested by people aiming for multiple exits ahead. Enter at your own peril.

2. U.S. 59 at the West Loop

I once read that the exit from 610 going west to the Southwest Freeway was on the list for most traffic accidents per year in Texas. That would not surprise me. I hate this exchange so much that I wrote an angry letter last year to people who drive it. At virtually no time of the day is this area not packed with cars, and yet drivers moving from one freeway to another are forced into single lanes of traffic.

Coming from 59 south to 610 is equally bad, made even worse by an entrance ramp from Chimney Rock — on my list of the worst freeway entrance ramps. From the other direction, the single-lane exit to 610 going north is always packed, causing some drivers to panic and exit Newcastle, which is an even more painful choice than sitting and waiting on the freeway. There's no hope in this area, only misery. Avoid it at all costs.

1. Tx 288, U.S. 59 and I-45

And still, nothing compares to the nightmare where Tx 288, U.S. 59 and I-45 intersect. In addition to elevated portions of 45 and 59, massive traffic in and around the Medical Center, and the dangerous exit to Spur 527 off 59 just before you reach this confluence, there's a bizarre, almost subterranean feel to stretches of 59 between 288 and 45 that are as claustrophobic as they are jammed with people.

With so many exits pushing and pulling drivers all over the highway along this lower level, it's a miracle anyone ever gets to his or her intended destination. I wouldn't be surprised if someone trying to get to the University of Houston ends up near the Ship Channel weeping and hoping his cell phone doesn't die before help arrives. It doesn't help that drivers here often act as if their only job is to avoid any possible slowdown, whipping in and out of lanes to find the fastest route to Galveston.

If you cannot avoid this area, my best advice is to read many maps carefully. Become a cartographer if you must, but don't drive here unless you know what you're doing. and even then, a prayer couldn't hurt.
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Pothole City

The 10 worst major roads in Houston (right now).

10. TC Jester between 34th Street and Pinemont Drive

I have the misfortune of driving this nearly every day, and have driven it for many years. In high school, I had friends who drove big cars with cream-puff suspensions who enjoyed going fast northbound in the right-hand lane on TC Jester because the giant dips created by roads intersecting it would nearly send them airborne. Those conditions still exist, but now they're worse. And for some crazy reason, parking is allowed in the right-hand lane of the southbound side near the dog park. It becomes a choice between hitting a parked car and hitting a massive pothole. It's not always a clear-cut decision.

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There are too many bad drivers in Houston. They don't have patience, have a lack of understanding or following right-of-way rules, are extremely distracted or paying attention to things other than the road and their driving, discourteous of other drivers on the road... the list continues.

To renew DL, everyone should be retested or to obtain a DL, the tests should be tougher.

No one has mentioned the lack of zoning. Remove zoning from a city and developers get to build what they want where they want, and most of their intercity residents have cars. Sure they have parking garages, but the drivers bring the cars out of those daily, clogging up streets. Everyone wants to cater to the car mentality. but the cars are only part of the equation. When we stop playing fast and loose with zoning, you will see change, and not before. I grew up in a city with zoning. There were never traffic issues in the inner city, because developers and business owners had to play by strict rules -- the most important of which was you can only built / operate certain businesses in certain places and you better make damn sure you have adequate parking. Houston has a traffic issue because Houston has a no-zoning issue, and because the NIMBY-minded are not about to let anything about that ancient, out-of-date status quo change.

@notanimby Zoning will never happen. Never. People bring it up every few years and usually by transplants from the East who grew up in a completely different style city: smaller, denser,built up instead of out; cities where the major initial growth happened before the advent cars, so public transport preceded the car. This city, and most to the South and West, like Phoenix and LA simply didn't grow that way and had their major growth post-1920s when cars were the norm. You can't magically retrofit it to be an East-coast style city with zoning and mass transit.

@notanimby I agree zoning is a big issue in the city...they need it badly for any and all new construction...they cant go back and tear down those things that are not zoned but any new construction needs to follow zoning regulations.

God what a bunch of whiners this city holds. Traffic here is actually quite moderate for such a large city. New York, Los Angeles, Washington and even Atlanta all have far worse rush hours. All of those cities also have much more extensive metro rail systems as well. Rest assured that even if the light rail system were greatly expanded here (and it definitely needs to be) there will still be traffic problems in Houston. Bad traffic is just part of living in the city. Don't like it? Move to the country.

What really amazes me about Houston though is how God awful the roads are. I have never in my life seen streets and high ways so poorly maintained as they are in Houston. Every time I visit Atlanta (where I lived for 2 decades) I marvel at how smooth and quiet the roads are. I certainly didn't ever expect to say something like that while I was living there either. And those roads are built and maintained without the benefit of multiple toll highways. Deferred maintenance, poor planing and lack of funding are the biggest problem with transportation in Houston metro. Until those problems are fixed the commute in Houston is not likely to improve.

Um, no...I've commuted in all of the above, as well as Dallas. Until I spent 3 years in Houston, I realized all of them (with the possible exception of the GW Bridge- but even that's only a section of NY traffic as a whole) had been merely practice for the truly worst traffic in the country.

Why does the myth that Houston is the largest city, by area, in the U.S. keep circulating? I have heard this misinformation at least three times in the last month. The top four U.S. cities by area are all in Alaska. If you count only the cities in the 48 contiguous states, Houston is fifth on the list. In the lower 48, Jacksonville, Florida is the largest U.S. city, by area, and with a population of 800,00+, they more than exceed your criteria of a population over 500,000.

@adambevo if they work downtown or in the Heights...(im from Dallas moved here a year ago) the prices are crazy for the space inside that 610 loop....its cheaper to stay outside of those loops...642 sq ft. for 1700-1900 (thats crazy) I pay close to 1k close to the beltway about 15 minutes from my job which takes 30-45 minutes to go 10 miles...for what I pay here i would live in Downtown Dallas...its just alot to do with zoning as the guy above said that has a huge impact on traffic....

High speed trains. enclosed hov lanes then having a cop stand watch does not help much. neither do the ones on 45 downtown area. pls whoever watches the freeway cameras should send assistance quickly to stalled vehicles in the middle of the freeway.

Kingwood-downtown, Woodlands-downtown, Tomball/Willowbrook-downtown,
Cypress-downtown, Katy-downtown, Sugarland-med center, Pearland-med
center, Friendswood-med center Channelview-downtown are the
heavily-utilized commuter corridors and therefore where light rail
should go. Proposing any other routes without those is a waste of time and resources.

Under the subheading Where the Streets Have New Names, FM 1960/Highway 6/Addicks has also been known previously (and old-timers still refer to it) as Jackrabbit Road, and FM 1960 is now Cypress Creek Parkway.

That is because Houston has essentially for decades acted like and refused to be a metropolitan city. It has systemically, not developed a modern rail that can loop around this city and get traffic off the roads. Major cities have a system for traffic even Japan has a high speed line in place.

People have a short memory. I did the aerial photo analysis for Metro of the Union Pacific Right of Way that became the Katy Freeway expansion, and the corridor to Sugar Land and north to Bryan. Metro could have put in rail on all of that, but instead chose to build the abortion of I-10 with speed humps ever mile over the crossing streets. Houston's roads are so crappy I stay out of the city as much as possible. The decline started under Mayor Brown and has just continued. As for bicyclists, I've had enough of them to last a lifetime. I've had to deal with the bike Nazis in San Francisco and Austin. I guess it is their mindset of superiority, "Look at me! I don't drive a car so I must be better, more healthy than you!" It breeds a sense of entitlement. I see way too many bicyclist ignoring the rules of the rode, blowing through stop signs and ignoring lights. I'll go along with an expansion of bicycle venues when cops pursue bicyclist for rule violations as vigorously as the do drivers.

Houston has the potential to be one of the top cycling cities in the US. By developing a Master Bicycle Plan and investing in priority corridors Houston will get more people cycling more safely. The benefits of this are first and foremost economic as Houston becomes a preferred destination for the best and brightest workers from around the country and begins to see the decrease in healthcare costs as we reverse the negative trends associated with obesity, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. These benefits are shared by cyclists and motorists alike.

Look ahead as we pass, try and focus on itI won't be fooled by a cheap cinematic trickIt must have been just a cardboard cut out of a manTop-forty cast off from a record stand

Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.

I don't know could've been a lame jogger maybeOr someone just about to do the freeway strangler babyShopping cart pusher or maybe someone groovieOne thing's for sure, he isn't starring in the movies.'Cause he's walkin' in L.A.

You won't see a cop walkin' on the beatYou only see 'em drivin' cars out on the streetNobody's walkin' walkin'You won't see a kid walkin' home from schoolTheir mothers pick 'em up in a car pool

Could it be that the smog's playing tricks on my eyesor is it a rollerskater in some kind of headphone disguiseMaybe somebody who just ran out of gas,Making his way back to the pumps the best way he can.

> TC Jester between 34th Street and Pinemont Drive is atrocious and the construction on 290/610/I10 means that 3 freeways are jacked up morning, afternoon and night.

Love the whole "we want more people to ride" but we'll shut down the only park n ride in the area so you're stuck using the park n ride at i10 or the one at w. little york and 290, no other stops in between, thanks metro for killing the 216 and screwing people that live in this area trying to get to work downtown, you suck.

On the subject of streets that change names: The cake-topper in my experience is North Braeswood becoming Beechnut after crossing Stella Link, South Braeswood becoming North Braeswood at the West Loop, and South Braeswood the other direction suddenly becoming the South Loop.

Even odder is the phenomenon of streets and roads that end and a mile or two later. In my family we have grown accustomed to calling this "jestering" after T.C. Jester Boulevard, which used to be the prime example. This is certainly not unique to Houston, but it's frustratingly common here. Outside the Loop, a lot of the roads that formerly jestered have been stitched together in the last 30 years. Put up some stadiums and parks in Downtown, EaDo, and Midtown, and now you have increased inner-city jestering.

By the way, for those keeping score, it's Bammel-N. Houston/N. Houston Rosslyn/Bingle/Voss/Hillcroft/Fort Bend Parkway. And Buffalo Speedway does morph into Willowbend, but then it jesters to just north of West Orem Drive.

Wow. Has the person who wrote the 3 worst freeway interchange list every lived anywhere else or driven in another city? I agree with a couple of the things wrong with each interchange but there are much worse interchanges throughout the country. My job, unfortunately, has called me away from Houston again last month and the first thing I noticed is how much I miss the simplicity of the highways and interchanges in Houston compared to the confusion and poor signage on the interstates surrounding our nation's capital.

Ah yes, light rail. The amazingly ineffective 4 mile ride from the med center to downtown, started 12 years ago to help attract the 2012 Olympics. Yea, let's keep talking about it. 41,000 people a week riding from the med center to downtown at lunch to grab something different to eat. That's about all it does. It is of no use to anyone else in the rest of the city and surrounding areas.

@notanimby ..says the guy who takes 6 months to read a story. Yea, I'm sealed in. But obviously I was exaggerating to make a point. It is a whopping 13 miles long from Med Center to HCC. And I did try to ride it Saturday (9-27-14) in fact, from Midtown to downtown...and it was not running that day...a Saturday...evening. My point remains. It is worthless.

There are so many places in Houston where light rail would be a success but no one wants rail through their neighborhood. I think the time for the use of eminent domain is here. Yes, even if I was in the path I would understand and accept it. The needs of the many outweighs the the needs of the few. I have used public transportation (including light rail) throughout the world and guess what? It works when properly designed. You learn where you get off to connect to the next rail (if needed) and you get where you want to go nearly hassle free. Yes, you can even carry a Macy's shopping bag or two with you.

Our city leaders have been extremely short-sighted when it comes to light rail. There have been those with the vision who have tried but ultimately been shot down because of lack of support. Is it expensive? Yes, without a doubt. When you weigh the cost of the overall projects with the countless hours commuters spend in traffic and the enormous amount of wasted energy and time sitting in traffic the payoff makes a lot of sense. Common sense seems to be in short supply in our city, state and federal governments as well the citizens who would benefit from it.

It is not only the major roadways that are falling apart, the very urban neighborhoods they are pushing have roads that remind me of ones in New York City that dead-ended next to the scrap metal yards or warehouses. Simply put, deplorable conditions for the amount of taxes paid! Good luck trying to bike, jog, skateboard never mind simply walk on these streets and sidewalks! Something needs to be done!

It comes do to money and resources... these roads will not fix themselves and it cannot be done cheaply, it will also require a larger work force. Houston is a big city that needs a lot of employees and STRONG oversight! I know this is very bad concept in todays "government is bad" mentality, but maybe our city's streets got this point because of this very mindset.

I have been driving over 50 years and the streets of Houston have been full of potholes. It has never been any different. The city is too sprawled to really keep it up, and the city allows developers to develop areas before the supporting infrastructure is in place (like expanding roads BEFORE any building is allowed to take place). The roads are not likely to get better - they fix one and then others need to be repaired.

So: Mass transit. We could sure use it here in Houston, but buses and ground level rail!? We have a city that floods, so they build ground level rail and do not even put up crossing gates or lights! Ugh... Why didn't they put in monorail on elevated tracks so the trains don't get in the way of traffic and they can still run when the streets are flooded. Well, they can if the water doesn't get too high. And why isn't rail put in in the areas most affected by high traffic? Rail/Monorail should have been run down 45, I-10, 290, 59... But the rail is only run in the inner city.

You can't run buses down crowded roads. Buses should also have turn-off lanes for each stop to remove the stationary buses from being nothing but a traffic obstacle. The current rail system is an expensive joke. Not to mention they can't even make people pay to ride the light rail!

Houston's poor road design is reflective of the ignorance and / or corruption of both the politician/city planner who approved the projects and the companies that built them. Look around at the area just near where 2 major highways meet. Some moron decided to add another on ramp compounding the already too congested intersection. Its like when you are in line at a store, would a manager suddenly tell everyone in the next lane to move to your lane and ahead of you?

Houston's poor road design is reflective of the ignorance and / or corruption of both the politician/city planner who approved the projects and the companies that built them. Look around at the area just near where 2 major highways meet. Some moron decided to add another on ramp compounding the already too congested intersection. Its like when you are in line at a store, would a manager suddenly tell everyone in the next lane to move to your lane and ahead of you?

Traffic and mobility in Houston has always been difficult. But the one thing that I could never understand is why people would live 30+ miles away from where they work and waste a significant amount of their lives just getting to and from where they work.

As far as the road designs go, it is a phenomena called "The Revenge of the C- Student".

And as far as the potholes go, I have always felt that a majority of Houston roadways were built on the cheap, not much stronger than someone's driveway.

Then again, I think that Houston has done some of the more innovative things when it comes to mobility, such as when Mayor Whitmire, expanded Westheimer literally overnight by restriping it from three lanes to four.

You explained it and I still don't understand it. When I lived in Houston and worked downtown, the 15 to 20 minute commute was my preference. For me, I just felt that I could accomplish more with that 2 to 3 hours a day doing something else other than driving a car or sitting on a METRO bus.

@ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul I like living where I live, and expect to have to pay, in some way, to have a comfortable home. I have 3 acres of land and a small house. The taxes are a pittance compared to what I would pay in Houston on 1/4 acre, and I'll be able to afford my home when/if I retire. Yeah, the stress of my commute is not enjoyable, but I can't live in close proximity with people in an urban setting - that for me is far more stressful. No, a long commute (mine is 60 miles each way) is not for everyone, and I would love to be able to take a train to/from town, but until I can...I'll just tough it out.

There are two simple reasons that Richmond is #1 on your list of the worst pot-holed streets in the city. I am a little puzzled that you couldn't figure this out for yourself.

1. The City and METRO figured they would be putting light rail down it and so why waste money repairing it while that was pending. (The nice reason)

2. Retribution against the businesses that stopped light rail and against Culberson personally/politically. (The not-nice reason)

It seems to me that #2 is the biggest reason, because the City doesn't even seem to do simple black top patches here and there. And the #1 reason seems like it should have expired about 3 years ago. I think that (liberal Dem) Annise Parker & Company, in office for 4+ years at this point, just want to let it get worse and worse and say "that's what you get for electing (conservative Rep) Culberson to represent you."